SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - Precious Memories by Prof. J. Earle Hines and the Goodwill Singers

Before Mahalia Jackson, the best-known gospel singer in the U.S. was Prof. J. Earle Hines. As choir director, Hines, and the legendary Gwendolyn Cooper-Lightner as pianist, helped build St. Paul’s Baptist Church of Los Angeles into the largest African American congregation in the country. They were also hugely influential in the growth of gospel music on the West Coast, influencing young artists like Andrae Crouch and the Hawkins.

As a performer, the operatic Hines was known to utterly wreck churches to the extent pastors usually had multiple ambulances on hand as dozens of people would “fall out” during his performances. While Hines recorded widely before his early death at age 44 in 1960, very little of his music remains in print today. Here is Prof. J. Earle and the Goodwill Singers’ on a Gotham 78 singing “Precious Memories.”

I’m Robert Darden … “Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments” is produced by KWBU and the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program at Baylor University Libraries.

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